Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to saddle-type vehicles driven by a driver sitting on a seat of the vehicle and steering a bar handle.
Description of the Related Art
Various parking brake mechanisms have been previously proposed for locking a wheel of a two-wheeled vehicle when parking. For example, JP 2009-197990 A discloses a parking brake mechanism in which the wheel of a two-wheeled vehicle is locked by placing its clutch into a connected state (in which power is transmittable from an engine to a wheel) when the engine is in a stopped state. More particularly, the parking brake mechanism of JP 2009-197990 A comprises an elastic member and an elastic retainer within the clutch. It is structured so that a group of clutch discs are press-contacted to each other by the elastic member and the elastic retainer via a pressure plate when the engine is in a stopped state in order to lock the wheel using friction of the engine.
Such a parking brake mechanism is structured so that the press-contacted state of the clutch discs can be released with a driver grasping a clutch lever. The parking brake state (in which the wheel is locked when the engine is in the stopped state) is thus switched to a neutral state (in which the wheel is not locked when the engine is in the stopped state). That is, the parking brake state can be attained by locking the wheel using the elastic member and the elastic retainer when the engine is in the stopped state, and the system can be switched from the parking brake state to the neutral state by a driver's grasping the clutch lever.